Loyalist Trump Nominee Tries To Disprove The Affordability Crisis In Senate Hearing

[0:00] thank you senator cortez masto i i will defer to my colleague senator reed yes okay thank you very [0:08] much mr chairman uh dr phelan uh you mentioned the generational issues that we're facing one of them [0:16] is a incredible re-concentration of wealth in the one percent of americans something that was [0:24] we saw in the gilded age and uh and we made progressive changes to to fix that for working [0:32] people uh 32 of the total wealth is now controlled by one percent of the people that is a a new record [0:39] according to the federal reserve uh and consumer spending uh is being driven by that group of [0:45] people unusually uh very expensive all overused houses etc uh last year president trump added to [0:52] their uh benefits with about a 250 000 per year tax cut for these people you've been talking about [0:59] a working tax cut of several thousand dollars which has already been eclipsed by the tariffs and the war [1:05] in iran how do we reorient our policy so that working americans start to share in this wealth that's [1:14] being generated and frankly captured by the very few people thank you senator and thank you for our [1:23] conversation in your office i enjoyed it immensely the right now i think america is the best place [1:32] in the world to be a participant in the economy at any level we've had uh we are the envy of the world [1:41] in terms of job growth wage growth standard of living growth uh so as why is roughly 70 percent of the [1:54] population so concerned about their economic future about affordability uh and a startling fact a huge [2:04] majority of people saying that they believe that the children will not enjoy the same kind of uh life [2:11] that they did thank you senator in general one of the reasons i mentioned earlier uh about consumption [2:22] growth being very strong was economists tend to discount uh survey data because talk is you know [2:31] people i like to look at what people do versus what they say when someone decides to spend that is [2:39] a vote with their own dollars that they believe that in their future and spending uh consumer spending [2:49] has been quite strong uh as i said most of that is being led by the wealthiest americans uh most working [2:58] americans in my state and up in south dakota across the country are struggling with very high gas prices [3:04] with very high grocery prices with a sense of uh one paycheck to one paycheck and uh the administration [3:13] i don't think is responding effectively let me quickly say on the subject if you were asked as the chairman [3:19] of the council of economic advisors whether the president should veto the road bill what would your [3:24] advice be thank you senator i firmly believe that the most important word in the council of economic [3:32] advisors is the last one advisors and that i would advise on economic issues as mandated by the jobs act [3:40] which created the job that i'm being asked being considered for by this body uh i have no expertise [3:50] on political questions like i said i did not consider politics your address i want you to address [3:55] as an economic question would the benefits of this legislation be positive contribute to more [4:02] affordability for housing which is one of our greatest challenges this is just an economic issue [4:07] if the president asked the council to produce a report on what would be the effect of this law i would [4:14] be happy to provide accurate numbers thank you very much you won't respond i appreciate that [4:19] i i i don't want to feel that you gentlemen are completely ignored and collecting first uh mr ledbetter [4:26] thank you for your service to united states on me uh i learned never to mess with a warrant officer [4:31] a particular w-5 uh one thing i would like you to do is can commit to uh enforcing the fact that many [4:39] times hud is not putting money out they're delaying it deliberately and and i think with the political [4:47] motivation as inspector general i would hope you would ensure that the money is distributed on time [4:52] and to the proper target well good morning sir i uh just wanted to say thank you for taking the time [4:59] to meet with me during this and as uh we discussed in your office i i don't have the specifics on on the [5:05] program you mentioned however uh i do commit to reviewing any matters that you or your staff uh that [5:13] may be of uh concern to you at any time so if there's an issue out there that needs my attention [5:18] and it's important to you then i will commit to meeting with you and discussing it mr gurus welcome [5:23] and good luck thank you